The Indianapolis Colts are just three days from their second Super Bowl appearance in four years.
The IHSAA girls basketball sectional will begin in less than a week.
So why have my thoughts so often turned to the PGA Tour during the past five days?
It seems that the new U.S. figurehead on that Tour, Phil Mickelson, isn’t holding up his end of the bargain very well with just a couple of tournaments in the books.
At the heart of the problem are the square grooves in irons that were outlawed by the PGA and the USGA before the start of the season.
Mickelson and a few others found a legal loophole. The loophole is there because Ping and the PGA settled a lawsuit long ago that would make clubs designed by that company prior to April 1, 1990, legal for Tour use.
Fellow PGA pro Scott McCarron was reported to have called Mickelson a “cheater.” But he later said he believes what Mickelson did was cheating, but he denied he called Mickelson a cheater.
I won’t call Mickelson a “cheater” either. But I will agree with McCarron that it is cheating.
Golf has always been a game about policing yourself. Even on the pro tour, most of the participants call violations on themselves. On a rare occasion a viewer will catch a violation, call it in and, through the use of videotape, the infraction’s punishment is enforced.
Mickelson should have policed himself on this matter.
He knew it was the intent of the new regulation to ban the square grooves on the club. So he could have simply ignored the loophole.
Unfortunately the PGA can’t close the loophole without an agreement with Ping because of a 1993 settlement.
On Wednesday, Mickelson announced that he is going to quit using the clubs. Problem solved? No, this is Mickelson we’re discussing here.
Mickelson’s position now is that he has done his part to attract attention to the problem. He now says that if the PGA and the USGA don’t close the loophole and if his fellow Tour pros don’t continue using it, then he will take the clubs out again and use them.
So it seems that Mickelson still doesn’t seem to get the fact that while the clubs are legal, it is still wrong to use them. He refuses to believe that the PGA pros can recognize the difference and refrain from using them. He wants somebody to make them illegal and remove the temptation for him to bring them out of his garage again.
It would seem that Mickelson, who is now the most recognized U.S. player on this Tour, should be a forefront of encouraging everyone to follow the spirit of the rule whether the PGA and USGA can strike a deal with Ping or not.
If the loophole can be closed, then the issue would be resolved. But if it can’t then surely some restraint and some integrity from the players would also solve the problem.
Contact Rick Teverbaugh: 640-4886, rick.teverbaugh@heraldbulletin.com.
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Rick Teverbaugh: Phil not getting the point
Why have my thoughts so often turn to the PGA tour during the past five days?
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